Devices which have as their principal purpose the holding of nails, tacks and like securing elements against a hammer head to thereby assist in the driving of the nails, tacks and the like into a work piece are, in and of themselves, well know as evidenced by the following publications:
U.S. Pat. No. 469,710 to Munn, et al. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,169,255 to Simmons PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,367,778 to Bradbury PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 510,049 to Ryan PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,270,587 to Ludy PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 903,095 to Johnson PA1 U S. Pat. No. 698,631 to Carlisle PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 640,169 to Barger PA1 Canadian Pat. No. 480,620 to Zatrepalek.
Munn, et al. disclose a nail holder hooked into loops formed in the sides of a strap and a V-shaped portion for receiving a tack. In use, the V-shaped portion is first manually swung upwardly away from the hammer's striking surface to as to permit a tack to be inserted therein and is then mutually swung in over the hammer's striking surface so as to be in position to be driven into a board or the like.
Simmons '255 discloses a hammer and punch assembly whereby the punch is pivotally mounted to the hammer head and includes a spring-biased plunger to releasably hold the punch in either a position wherein the punch member itself extends forwardly of the hammer's striking surface or a position wherein the punch is housed in a reentrant portion defined in the hammer head.
Bradbury '788 discloses a circular body portion having a central receptacle for insertably receiving the driving or impact head of the hammer and a yoke portion for supporting a nail shank forwardly of the hammer's striking surface.
Ryan '049 discloses a double-headed hammer having prongs which grip a nail or tack.
Ludy discloses a pair of juxtaposed, generally co-extensive cantilever members of spring material having overlapping free ends located adjacent to the hammer head so as to clamp the head of a nail therebetween.
Johnson '095 discloses a tube section for encompassing the neck of a hammer and which defines a dependent channel aligned substantially parallel to the shank of the hammer head for releasably retaining a nail therein.
Carlisle '631 discloses a clip having a back-turned end portion and diverging spring-prongs for retaining a nail on the side of a hammer head.
Barger '169 discloses a nail-holding device having a piece of wire which is bent and formed into a V-shaped portion so as to receive the head of a nail and the means for mounting the V-shaped portion on a side of a hammer head.
Zatrepalek '620 discloses a device adapted to hold a nail parallel to the shank of the hammer head and includes an adjustable nail striking head separate from the striking face of the hammer.
As the reader will appreciate from even a cursory review of the above prior art proposals for nail holding accessories, some improvements have been needed so as to enable relatively unencumbered use of the hammer once the nail has been started into a wooden board or other similar work piece. According to the present invention, the nail holding accessory for a hammer permits the nail to be carried forwardly of the hammer head striking surface so that the user can initially drive a portion of the nail into the work piece, but yet includes the means which releases the nail when the hammer is reactively moved away from the nail head.
To achieve such functions, the present invention includes an elongate body member having an integral upstanding pair of gripping fingers formed at a forward end thereof and a bearing surface defined at a rearward end thereof. The pair of gripping fingers establish therebetween an open-ended slot so as to receive and retain a nail forwardly of the striking surface of the hammer. An elastomeric band having a portion connected to the body member forwardly of the bearing surface and a remaining portion adapted to encompass a transverse exterior section of the hammer rearwardly of the hammer's striking surface couples the body member to the hammer such that the pair of gripping fingers are operatively positioned forwardly of the hammer's striking surface. The elastomeric band (by virtue of its connection to the elongate body forwardly of the bearing surface) advantageously biases the gripping fingers into their operative position forwardly of the hammer's striking surface while yet also biasing the elongate body member into an inoperative position removed from the striking surface when the elongate body is responsively and automatically pivoted about the bearing surface during rebound of the hammer away from the nail.
Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more clear to the reader after careful consideration is given to the detailed description of the preferred exemplary embodiment thereof which follows.